Writing about random topics

The Berlin Wall is my Rocky III

Some time ago, I was at a Quiz Night and one of the questions was which Rocky movie came out in 1983? Was it Rocky II, Rocky II, Rocky III or Rocky IV? Our team captain knew it… or did he? He debated with himself. “Rocky III! No, wait, Rocky IV. Hold on, put Rocky III.” We decided to go with Rocky III, until the very end when our team captain second-guessed himself and switched it to Rocky IV.

It turns out that the answer to the question indeed was Rocky III. It wouldn’t have been so bad except that our team ended up losing by 1 point. That second-guessing was costly.

Well, this past Monday, myself and some friends went down to a Quiz Night at a local restaurant. The questions were very difficult, we had no idea on most of them. They did end up getting a bit easier as time passed, however. One question was the following: What did year the Berlin Wall go up? And what year was it torn down?

We all knew that it came down in 1989 (at least I did, I blurted that out as quickly as I could). However, nobody knew when it was put up, at least not right away. I knew that the city of Berlin was split right after the end of the second world war, but I also knew the wall itself was constructed much later. I searched my memory and said “1961.” The team kind of hemmed and hawed. I was certain it was around that time period, but I wasn’t sure. At the end, the team ended up changing it to some time in the early 1950’s. I wasn’t sure of the date and acquiesced to their judgment.

At the end, the points were tallied. They read out the answers and it turned out that the Berlin Wall did go up in 1961, just like I originally said. That ended up costing us a point. My team ended up coming in third place… by 1 point. The second-guessing cost us a second place finish. It was the difference between a $15 gift certificate and a $25 gift certificate. What is with my team-quizzes and missing out by 1 point?